Consider the alternative (April 21, 2017)

A letter writer excoriates Apple Valley Taxpayers Against Higher Water Fees because she wants the Town to free us from Liberty Utilities (“Water lies,” Daily Press, April 21, 2017). Her main point seems to be that Liberty charges too much for water. Has she looked at the Town’s version of our future?

For example, the Town once assured us that the water company was worth “only” $45 million. Measure F — which wouldn’t even be on the ballot if it were not for Liberty Utilities fighting for our local control — shows that the Town wants up to $150 million at up to 12 percent interest. If Measure F passes, there is nothing to stop the Town from using every penny of that, and encumbering our town with more than half a billion in principle and interest charges to buy a water system we already have.

There is nothing in Measure F (on in any of the Town’s plans for this hostile takeover) that limits rate increases, prevents the Town from taking on additional debt to keep the water system going, increases our water allocation, or gives us free rein to use water without consequences. Any suggestion to the contrary is just political hype, without weight or substance.

She doesn’t have to believe anything Liberty Utilities says is true; she can do her own investigation. If she does, she will find as I did that there is no support for any of the many utterances coming out of Town Hall on this issue, and that in fact often what comes out of Town Hall is the exact opposite of the truth.

If she thinks her water is expensive now, she is going to be astonished to see how expensive water becomes under the mis-management of Town Hall.

“As taxpayer advocates, we’re concerned whenever government attempts to take over a private business, using the power of eminent domain. The promises are rarely kept, and costs invariably exceed projections. Taxpayers need to be fully informed and extremely cautious.”